Chippers are used to reduce branches, trees, brush, and other bulk wood products into small wood chips. A chipper typically includes an infeed chute, a feed system for controlling the feed rate of wood products into the chipper, a chipping mechanism, a drive system for powering the feed system and the chipping mechanism, and a discharge chute. The infeed chute cooperates with the feed system to guide the wood products towards the chipping mechanism.
Through the operation of the feed system, products to be chipped are brought into contact with the chipping mechanism, which grinds, flails, or cuts the wood products into small pieces. These chips are propelled into the discharge chute and expelled from the chipper. Chippers, if operated incorrectly, are potentially dangerous devices. The chipping mechanism typically rotates at high speeds, producing the high torque necessary to chip the wood products. The feed system typically includes infeed rollers which grab and pull material to be chipped into the chipper. As the rollers pull the material, it is possible that the material may catch an operator's clothing pulling the operator toward the infeed chute. A recent improvement to chipper infeed systems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,409 to Stelter which is incorporated herein by reference, including a stop member that is positioned where an operator can conveniently actuate a stop control causing the feed rollers to stop. This control is positioned where branches can also actuate the stop control, causing undesirable stoppage of the feed rollers. There is a need for an infeed that minimizes undesirable stoppage of the feed rollers.